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Pediatric researchers within the MGH community were celebrated March 18 at the sixth annual MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Research Day in the Simches Building.

Recognizing pediatric research

28/Mar/2014

DAY OF DISCOVERY: From left, Shanmugam, Kleimola, Kleinman and Singal

Pediatric researchers within the MGH community were celebrated March 18 at the sixth annual MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Research Day in the Simches Building. “The event brings together faculty to discuss important clinical topics and also gives them an opportunity to become familiar with and participate in some of the research done here,” said Allan Walker, MD, chair of the MGHfC Research Council.

Council members selected three outstanding posters out of the 44 submitted by pediatric researchers – the most submissions to date. The winners received travel awards to attend national meetings. Lauren Kleimola, a research fellow in the Division of Global Health, was selected for “Stunted Growth in Early Childhood is Associated with Exposure to Household Air Pollution”; Nanda Kumar Shanmugam, a Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center fellow, for “Intestinal Inflammation Modulates Expression of the Iron Regulating Hormone Hepcidin Depending on Erythropoietic Activity and the Commensal Microbiota”; and Vibha Singhal, MD, of the Neuroendocrine and Pediatric Endocrine units, for “Irisin Levels are Lower in Young Amenorrheic Athletes Compared with Eumenorrheic Athletes and Non-Athletes and Correlate with Bone Structure and Strength Estimates.”

The event's keynote speakers were Christopher McDougle, MD, director of the Lurie Center for Autism at MGHfC, who presented “An Overview of Autism Spectrum Disorder,” and Alessio Fasano, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, whose talk was entitled, “Is Autism an Autoimmune Disease?”

“This event reminds me how much fun it is to spend a day learning about the innovative work of our research community,” said MGHfC physician-in-chief Ronald Kleinman, MD. “It is so impressive.”